


Tears of the Broken

by Skylar0Grace



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-05
Updated: 2010-02-05
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:18:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylar0Grace/pseuds/Skylar0Grace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The job falls on Sam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tears of the Broken

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks once again to AgentOdie for beta’ing.

* * *

Sam pulled out the last clean pair of boxers he owned and was surprised when a folded up piece of paper fell out. Tentatively he opened it and almost immediately his blood ran cold. Dean had been dead for eight days, eleven hours, twenty-six minutes and twelve seconds but he’d know his brothers handwriting anywhere and seeing it now was like a slap in the face. His eyes scanned the page and he had to read it several times before the words actually made sense.  
  
 _Sammy,_  
  
 _I don’t want you to blame yourself for anything that has happened. Nothing was your fault and if I could go back and change things, I still wouldn’t. You’re the most important thing to me and there is no price I wasn’t willing to pay. Remember everything I taught you and protect people; for me, for Dad, for Mum._  
  
 _We can’t change things Sammy and I swear that if you so much as drive within five miles of a crossroads…_  
  
 _I need you to do one thing for me. I couldn’t do it when I was alive. I need you to go and see a woman for me. I’ll put her address at the bottom of the letter but her name is Buffy Summers. She needs to know what has happened to me and trust me - she’ll need to hear it from you. You can trust her Sam, let her help you. She’s the Slayer and she will give you anything you need._  
  
 _You’re my brother Sammy and I love you. Please be careful out there._  
  
 _Dean._  
  
Sam stared at the letter in shock. There were absolutely no words. He quickly shoved his boxers back into the bag, along with the rest of the dirty clothes and threw the bag over his shoulder. The Impala keys jingled in his hand as he raced down the stairs. He ignored the biting cold on his bare arms and feet as he turned the car around in the opposite direction. Sleep was kept at bay by the need to get to the address as soon as possible, even though he hadn’t slept much since Dean had died.  
  
Every time he closed his eyes he saw his brother’s empty eyes staring back at him. He’d avoided Bobby and ignored calls from Ellen as he moved on to the next job. He knew that if he stopped moving he would feel again and he wasn’t sure he could handle it. When Dean had died at the Trickster’s hands he’d felt a similar ache but this time he knew where his brother was and he knew it was because of him. Nothing could change that.  
  
By the time he reached the address, he had to double check it. He was parked in front of a group of large, stone buildings and a brass plaque on the corner of the gate informed him that it was a private school. He stepped from the car, still wearing no shoes or jacket, and walked up the long driveway. It was just as the last rays of sunshine filtered across the sky and the building was tinged a soft red as he approached.  
  
He rang the large doorbell and after a few moments, a tiny blonde woman answered the door. He could see others standing behind her across the room and he briefly wondered which one of them was Buffy. He looked back to the blonde woman and saw her eyes widen and her smile fall. She started shaking her head frantically and he saw the tears well up. She let out a mournful sob and her knees buckled underneath her. Instinctively he reached out and caught her before she hit the ground and it was then that he realised. This was Buffy.  
  
He kept his arms wrapped around her tightly as she let out soft screams and he felt tears sliding down his own cheeks. A brunette and an older man came rushing toward her but stayed back as Buffy’s small hands clenched at his shirt. He almost didn’t see a redhead running back into the room followed by another brunette but the brunette approached and knelt beside them, drawing his attention as her blue eyes glanced worriedly over them.  
  
“Buffy?” she asked.  
  
Buffy turned her head toward the woman and she calmed down slightly. Sam could still feel her body shaking and when she looked up at him with her tear stained face, he could almost feel his heart breaking. Well, he would have if it weren’t already shattered.  
  
“How?”  
  
Sam closed his eyes and turned his face away. How could he tell her that it was his fault? Sam felt her body shift and she pulled back as her hand turned his face back toward her.  
  
“Please?”  
  
“Hellhounds.”  
  
She stiffened at his answer and he knew that she understood the implications. Dean was in Hell. He couldn’t say anything else and he closed his eyes again in pain. Looking at her was too hard, he couldn’t watch someone else break because there was nothing he could do to help; he was broken himself.  
  
“Sam?”  
  
Sam’s eyes opened and he saw her questioning gaze. “He sold his soul to get me back -”  
  
The rest of his sentence was cut off as she pulled him forward and wrapped her arms around him. She held onto him like a mother would hold a hurting child and he let the tears he didn’t even know he had left fall. He heard her whisper that it wasn’t his fault over and over again but he could take no comfort in the words. It was his fault – he couldn’t save Dean.  


* * *

  
Sam stared at the mobile in his hands and looked back over his shoulder. Dean was still inside the hospital waiting for him to return with news of Pamela but Sam knew there was something he had to do first. He dialled the number he knew so well and took a deep breath as he heard her voice on the line.  
  
“Sam.”  
  
She sounded tired and worn and Sam knew that she was hurting just as much as he had been. It had been a long four months and he knew it had been as hard on her as it had on him. She had helped him out where she could. Kept him busy and safe. They hadn’t seen each other since the night he’d turned up on her doorstep but he had spoken to her a few times, more so recently. In the beginning she’d had Dawn answer all her calls and from the impression Dawn gave, she hadn’t been coping well at all. But in the last two or three weeks she’d started talking to him again.  
  
“He’s back,” he blurted out and he heard her suck in a sharp breath.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Dean. Something dragged him back out. We’re not sure -”  
  
He was met with a dial tone and Sam looked at the mobile. Sure enough, the call had been terminated and Sam frowned. Did she not believe him? Did she not want to know? Sam looked at the people milling about in front of him, walking in and out of the hospital doors, and nearly jumped when a small burst of light broke him out of his thoughts. Stunned, he saw Buffy standing before him and she looked back at the hospital behind him. Her face fell slightly and she ran inside before he had a chance to say anything.  
  
Sam saw her looking around the waiting room, her eyes scanning every face and when she couldn’t see him, she ran further into the hospital. It was in a waiting room for families just outside the surgical ward that he finally caught up with her and it was only because she had stopped dead in her tracks. Sitting in front of her with his head in his hands was Dean.  
  
Dean happened to glance up and his eyes widened. He looked from Buffy to Sam and back again. He moved as if to rise from his chair and it was all the invitation Buffy needed. She raced forward and wrapped her arms around him, her head buried in his chest as she cried, her body shaking, and Sam couldn’t help but remember a night when he saw her crying out of anguish instead of joy.  
  
Sam then saw something he had rarely seen and that was a tear slipping down Dean’s cheek as he held onto her tightly. Dean’s arms tightened around her as much as they could. Buffy looked up at him and pulled his face down toward hers. Sam wasn’t at all surprised.  
  
Neither Dean nor Buffy had mentioned them being in a relationship but Dawn had asked him all about Dean. When Sam had asked her why she was interested she’d told him that she knew her sister better than anyone and the look on her face had told Dawn that she’d lost the man she loved. None of Buffy’s friends had heard of Dean and Sam hadn’t known about Buffy. He wasn’t sure why they’d kept the other from those closest to them but seeing them together now let him know he’d made the right decision in calling her.  
  
Dean might not remember what Hell had been like but Sam knew that he hadn’t returned unscathed. Something was missing now and seeing him with Buffy was probably the most whole he had seen him since he’d come back. He didn’t let himself be fooled though. Something powerful had pulled Dean out of Hell and judging by the scar on his arm, it had literally dragged Dean out. There were a lot of unanswered questions but for now they could wait. The tears of the broken were fading as the healing began and with time there would just be memories. He was counting on it.

 


End file.
